New Paths
by slayersleigh
Summary: Saitama takes a different path than before. What if he had similar ideals, but became the enemy of heroes due to a misunderstanding? He might just drag a heroine or two into his problem as well. Tatsumaki/Saitama pairing
1. An Enemy is Born

**This is my first fanfiction so any advice would be appreciated in the comments. I am trying to keep the characters similar to their characteristics in the manga, but if I don't do the best job it is only so that I can make certain plots work within the story. This will probably be a Tatsumaki/Saitama pairing, but I won't be doing anything with it for a while until my writing skills improve.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **An Enemy is Born**

Saitama entered his apartment and slammed the door behind him. A slight roaring sound could be heard as the door ripped off its hinges and slammed into the side of a building across the street. 'Shit…not again' Saitama thought. This ended up happening almost any time he practiced his serious series moves or any of his advanced moves above the serious series. Of course, he never actually practiced them all out. For many of the moves he could only go through the motions of the moves unless he wanted everyone within the surrounding cities to notice. The fact remained though, that just practicing the moves would throw off his rather decent control for the remainder of the day.

Keeping a low profile for now was one of his main priorities. The reason was simple; it was quite annoying to deal with a mass amount of people who would offer up no thrill of a fight. He knew the Hero Association had no one who could match him….at least to his knowledge. Furthermore, even with his dull observation skills he could tell that not everyone in the association valued the true meaning of a hero. Having everyone intervene with his shopping and daily routines would be quite the hassle as well.

It was for this reason that Saitama had ditched his original costume and gone with a black cloak inscribed with red kanjis that read 'One'. On the backside a white cape with symbols for all of the cities A-Z were inscribed. He had even installed a secret pouch on it to keep his weekend sale coupons in so that he wouldn't need to return to the house. Too many times had he been distracted and missed his weekend shopping while fighting a monster. It was one of the few things that actually made him angry and it was during one of these times that he first discovered his serious move set. Due to the fact that the end result was a new volcano being created in the wastelands outside of City K he had decided to never carelessly use any of those moves around other people or even other heroes.

At first it was near impossible for him to keep his costume in a non tattered state. Eventually, this problem was solved when Saitama realized he could send a type of aura into objects in contact with him. This only worked very close to his skin though, so his cape would still get destroyed somewhat regularly. Asides from adding a defense to his costume this ability seemed to have no other useful benefits and through experimentation he found that this aura could not be applied to animate objects.

There had been no good monsters today as usual. All of them had been destroyed in one punch. Asides from practicing his serious moves nothing had happened today. He disappointedly threw his uniform into the corner of the room and flicked on the television.

"And today in city C a mysterious being containing powers blatantly destroyed several monsters and openly declared war on the Hero Association," blurted the news announcer as the camera panned to an overhead shot of City C.

Saitama furrowed his brow a bit. _'Hmm City C that sounds pretty familiar….I think I may have been there today, but I'm not really sure.'_ The broadcast then quickly cut to a picture of a man in a black cape. _'Well damn, I guess I got pretty careless today. Then again, when am I actually paying attention to details?...'_

The news announcer continued, "This man was at the scene when he struck down two C class heroes; the Bug Duo. The C class heroes were dealing with an evil bug swarm when the cloaked man attacked them destroying the bugs in the process. The two are in critical condition and it is reported that they most certainly would have died if the man attacked them directly. The cloaked man is currently being listed as a low Tiger rank threat by the Association. Due to the fact that he has the logos of all the cities on his back we can only assume that he means to target and demolish all of them. Due to his unknown power he has not been ranked higher. His current codename is Faceless as we have no clear cut details about this person. All these details were caught by our news helicopter".

' _Ahh…so that's what those buzzing sounds were. I assumed it was a fly. Well, I guess it was only a matter of time until I was discovered. Regardless, I already have the perfect setup for this situation. I will have to be much more careful about my work habits though. At least they didn't name me something dumb like Caped Hoody though. I do feel sort of bad about those heroes though…why the hell were they dressed up exactly like the enemy; do they want to get killed?'_ He flicked off the T.V. and with a sigh retreated to his bedroom for some rest.

'WHAM' As he woke up to his blaring alarm Saitama was quick to realize that his head was currently residing in the ceiling of his bedroom. If he was a normal person he may have made an exclamation of pain. Instead, he removed his head from the hole and proceeded to the kitchen for his breakfast. A few minutes later he left his house and caught a bus to his job. As the bus crossed the city he could see his destination looming as a giant rectangle appeared on the horizon. Saitama worked as a janitor at the Hero Association.

Although most of the time heroes were not at the Association building they would still lounge around as they liked being in the company of other strong individuals. Saitama could only access the lower levels, as it would be foolish and unreasonable of the Association to allow a lowly janitor to any area that may contain restricted information. Saitama was still able to get tidbits of information that were valuable to his assessment of other heroes however.

For the most part many ignored him except for a few individuals. Speaking of one of these individuals….'CLANG'!

"Well are you going to clean this up or not", complained a green headed girl while she pointed at the bowl of food on the ground that had been purposefully knocked onto the ground.

Tatsumaki, rank number 2 of the association, and in Saitama's opinion rank number 1 in annoyingness. He had to admit though, that he would also rank her very high on an attractiveness scale. 'If I didn't need this info right now I would completely ignore this brat' he thought. Instead he ground out a "Yes Tatsumaki" as he began to clean up the oatmeal on the ground.

"Did I say you could call me by my name janitor?" Tatsumaki said with a smug look on her face.

At this point Saitama was actually starting to get a bit riled up and replied with a "Sorry". It wouldn't do any good for him to get Tatsumaki mad. If she used her psychic powers on him and he got away without a scratch the game would be up.

Tatsumaki was bothered by those who were below her. _'I guess I can tolerate the other heroes; they at least have strength to back themselves up.'_ People like the janitor annoyed her however. The fact that someone of his class was able to associate with heroes was disgusting. Furthermore, she was riled up about the new assignment that was given to her. She glanced down at the paper in her hand that had a single word written at the top, 'Faceless'.


	2. Battles of Z City

**I am relatively new to this so I am open to making some changes. Due to the fact the manga has a small cast of female characters I decided to make Speed-o'-Sound Sonic female (if this is unpopular I can easily change it back and this was the only gender change I planned on making in the whole story.) In addition I didn't know where I should refer to Saitama as Faceless or if I should do it at all. Any criticism would be appreciated even if it doesn't offer any advice. Let me know if I'm doing a bad job at representing any of the characters.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Battles of Z City**

A man with oddly striped eyebrows and hair could be seen walking next to a similarly built, but more normal looking man. These men were Tank Top Tiger, C-rank thirteen, and Tank Top Black Hole, B-rank eighty-one.

Tank Top Tiger snorted in frustration "Man, why were we called out to this dump of a city. I've always disliked city Z. Nothing is here except for empty buildings and boredom."

"Look bro. We got called out here because of reports of excessive pollution and a disturbance in the environment. It's probably nothing and if it is something it's probably just a low class monster," replied Tank Top Black Hole.

"Tch…yet another enemy who won't be able to stand up to the amazing power of my physique and tank top."

As soon as Tank Top Tiger finished his statement an explosion ripped through the city several blocks away. Shards of shredded metal and broken glass rained down upon the streets as screams began to resonate throughout the city. An ominous purple haze appeared over the tops of the buildings as a creature began to emerge from the fog. The monster had a chiseled purple body with muscles that were constantly fluctuating with the creature's heartbeat. The top of his head was adorned with two bug like antennae. "I AM VACCINE KING! PREPARE TO BE DEMOLISHED!" the abomination shouted out to the heavens.

Tank Top Tiger's eyes widened a fraction. "Hey brother….I'm not saying I can't take this thing on, but I thought this was supposed to be a wolf level threat. This thing is at least a tiger threat. I mean, it just destroyed several buildings."

An arrogant appearance covered Tank Top Black Hole's face. "Don't worry man, if we work together our combined strength as brothers will be no match for this Vaccine Man"

As they began walking towards the monster that had not taken notice of them yet, a sound of wrenching metal and concrete could be heard from behind them. The brothers turned to see a cape and cloak fluttering in the wind. They both had the same thought, _'What the hell is Faceless doing here?'_

Earlier in the day:

Saitama was in quite the bad mood. He had had another rough day at work and had found out almost no useful information about heroes or what the Association knew about him. ' _Well I might as well get some dinner somewhere. Maybe I should try city Z. I'll have a high chance of running into a monster there as well.'_

As he arrived in City Z he began searching for a restaurant. Eventually he settled on a restaurant that he visited regularly. As his waitress approached the table he noticed that he had not seen her here before. She had grey eyes and her dark hair was pulled up into a topknot. Purple markings adorned her face directly underneath her eyes. Oddly enough, she had the appearance and awareness of an experienced fighter. _'It could just be that I'm overanalyzing the situation,'_ thought Saitama.

"Hello may I take your order sir"

"Hmm I think I will have the katsudon this time please"

The waitress's eyes widened. _'T-this tone of voice. As a ninja I have been trained throughout my life to notice the most subtle details. Although his voice sounds nonchalant I can tell it also radiates with power. His body language says that he has no fear of his surroundings….this is a man who I must fight. Regardless, I doubt he is any match for my speed.'_ She quickly finished taking his order and retreated back to the kitchen area of the restaurant. _'Damn, out of all the times to not bring my weapons with me. Oh well, I have already decided I will follow him after he is done here.'_

Saitama obliviously finished up his meal and left a somewhat generous tip. Suddenly, sounds of destruction could be heard throughout the city. Saitama furrowed his brow in annoyance _'Ugh, Im not in my costume right now. I guess I can just use the bathroom in the restaurant.'_ He rushed into the bathroom where he quickly began to change into his costume.

Speed-o'-Sound Sonic had easily noticed the mood change on Saitama's face when he rushed to the bathroom. _'Hmm…it appears as if this man is going to take action based on his reaction to those explosions. His presence has changed. He feels more dominating and there's a part to him that I can't read as well'_

At that moment a resounding crash could be heard from within the bathroom. From inside came a reply _. "Hehe sorry I have really bad stomach pains today."_

Speed-o'-Sound Sonic sweatdropped and continued waiting outside of the restroom. After a few minutes of listening to the sounds of running water her patience had ran out and she decided she valued fighting this man more than her crappy job. She crashed through the restroom door only to find no one in the restroom. The entire back half of the restaurant was entirely gone. The toilet was shattered into porcelain bits and a small geyser of water was rebounding off of the ceiling and flooding the floor. _'God dammit'_ Sonic thought as she dashed outside of the building. She didn't know exactly where the man was, but she had a feeling that he would be somewhere near where the explosions occurred. She jumped off the sides of the buildings as she began to search for the most destroyed section of the city _._

In front of Saitama there were two muscled men wearing a weird shirt style. Beyond them he could faintly see the figure that was most likely behind the damage caused to the city. Luck would have it that he would run into heroes from the Association. They weren't even strong and would hardly provide even an ounce of entertainment. _'I suppose it really doesn't matter if they see me now. I've already been identified by the Association. The least I can do is show them a glimpse of my power so that they will send only high class Heroes after me. Besides, I sort of need to take care of the purple guy over there. I will need to hold back greatly if I don't want to injure them too badly…no punches it is then I guess.'_

The brother with the striped hair spoke up. "Haha you sure picked a bad time to show up. Together with my brother, I will demolish you. You are only a low Tiger ranked threat and both of us can easily take care of something at that level."

Saitama stared at him with a blank face and his facial expression failed to change at all. The B and C class heroes couldn't see his face, but they could tell that he had no reaction to their words at all.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing acting all cocky like that? My bro and I will show you your true place!" declared the dark haired brother.

Tank Top tiger rushed forward as his brother began circling around to the other side of Faceless. He threw a punch directly towards Saitama's head, but found it passing through thin air. Tank Top Tiger froze in shock, "W-where the hell did he go?"

"Right here!" Tank Top Tiger turned around only to be met by the arm of Faceless. The arm clotheslined Tiger and he flew into the side of a parked car. Tank Top Black Hole could feel a gust of wind as he watched his brother fly into the car, bending it in half and instantly getting knocked out in the process.

His mouth dropped open in surprise, but he quickly recovered. "Y-You think I'm falling for that. There's no way my bro was taken down that easily. I bet that it was just a fluke. It's time for you to pay for what you have done you criminal!" Black Hole bull rushed the cloaked man and attempted to punch him. He quickly found that his fist was entrapped in an iron grip and despite his struggles he could not free himself. With his other armed trapped, he decided his only option was to throw a punch with his other hand. His fist slammed down upon the face of his enemy and the snapping of bones could be heard. "GAHHHH!" he screamed as he pulled back his fist in pain. The bones in his hand were completely shattered and Faceless had not moved an inch. He came to the realization of how utterly outclassed he was.

"W-wait I'm sorry I didn't mean anything I said earlier. I promise we will—." Black Holes sentence was cut off as Faceless reared back his fist and shot it sideways a bit in front of his face. A sonic boom erupted from the fist and a shockwave blasted Black Hole backwards next to his brother. _'H-how….with only one punch….he destroyed me.'_ were the last thoughts he had before he slumped down next to the car. He was still conscious, but in his state he could hardly move.

Saitama muttered a sentence under his breath. "Damn…one punch again. And I didn't even actually punch them to defeat them _." 'Well at least I was able to leave them in a non- critical state. With modern medicine they should be back up and at it in less than a week._ ' He glanced over at the portion of the city that the purple abomination had been present in. "Fuck" A large portion of the city was now missing. In the short amount of time it took to dispatch the two brothers the creature had fired some sort of beam like attack creating a massive clearing in the middle of the city. The monster was currently standing at the center of the clearing and glanced over at Saitama as he entered the clearing.

Saitama made a massive leap over to the monster and landed in front of it. "GREETINGS I AM VACCINE MAN! ARE YOU READY TO PERISH BY YOUR OWN CREATION?"

Saitama calmly looked up at the creature. "Sure, can we just get this over with? My show is having its finale premiere tonight and I would prefer if I didn't miss it."

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU MOCK WHAT THE HUMAN RACE HAS SOWN! I WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE POWER OF POLLUTION AND WILL PRESENT THE CURE FOR NATURE; THE EXTERMINATION OF MANKIND!"

Spikes began to jut off of the creature as they pierced through its skin. Slime and chunks of old skin ripped off of Vaccine Man as his muscles bulged and he became even more grotesque. His teeth extended and giant tusk like protrusions appeared on his face. He grew giant claws on his hands and released a massive explosion that rocked the clearing. The smell of chemicals and decay began to fill the surrounding city.

Tank Top Black Hole raised his head slightly and glanced across the clearing to see the cloaked man and Vaccine Man face off with each other. The power that Vaccine Man had begun to emit made him quite nervous. 'T-this monster….he is at least a Demon class if not more. Heh… looks like Faceless is done for'

As he finished his transformation Vaccine Man began to boast about his extreme power to Saitama. "THIS IS THE POWER OF POLLUTION! I AM THE STRONGEST AND AM UNBEATABLE! YOU ARE A MERE ANT, AN INSECT, A SPECK OF DUST THAT I-GLCKKK"

Vaccine Man's statement was quickly cut off. Where Saitama had been standing before was a massive crater and his fist was currently buried in the gut of the purple creature. Saitama slid the rest of his weight underneath the creature and began to extend his fist into an uppercut. Dirt and small particles lifted off the ground as he extended his fist upwards. Vaccine man was instantly obliterated and large portions of flesh and concrete blasted into the atmosphere above. A circular opening appeared in the clouds above where the force of his punch penetrated into the stratosphere.

Tank Top Black Hole could only drop his jaw in amazement at the power that was just displayed. 'This man is surely above a Tiger threat. He just demolished a Demon level like it was nothing. If he was a hero he would undoubtedly be an S class hero.' It was at this point that the resounding shockwave from the uppercut hit him and he blacked out.

Saitama looked upwards with the blank expression he had maintained throughout the fight. Although his face was concealed by his hood, he didn't actually have anything covering his face so it was now coated in a thin layer of blood. "NOOOOOOOOOO NOT ANOTHER MONSTER THAT DIES WITH ONE PUNCH AGAIN," he wailed in disappointment. He proceeded to wipe the fluids off his face and trudged to the end of the clearing.

As Saitama began to leave the city he heard a voice call out. "Wait right there! I'm going to assume you are finished dealing with whatever was causing those explosions so I can only assume you are a decent opponent. I Speed-o'-Sound Sonic will defeat you! You'd better provide a good fight."

Saitama turned around to see a familiar looking face. "Waitress-San?"

"W-what no! That's just my day job; right now I'm a ninja and I will prove to you that I am the fastest being alive," sputtered Speed-o'-Sound Sonic as she pushed off the building she was standing on and began to attack Saitama. She picked up several shards of metal that she had found on the ground and threw them as if they were throwing darts. Cones of air formed around the shards as they raced toward her adversary, but they quickly phased through his image. _'W-what the hell…what kind of power does this guy have'_ she thought, as she retreated back to a longer range.

Saitama turned to face her. "Are you done or am I actually going to have to fight you?"

Enraged at the comment made by this stranger, Speed-o'-Sound Sonic began to bounce of adjacent buildings, incrementing her speed every time she touched down on one of them. Vapor trails began to drift of her arms and she angled herself to face her opponent. She unsheathed one of the metal bars she had picked up previously and swung it at Saitama only for it to phase through him again. _'How the hell am I supposed to defeat someone whose power is to make themselves intangible to attacks? Maybe if I attack him where he can't see it will work.'_

She backed off to a further location where she could view the whole battlefield and chucked her bar behind Saitama and then acted like she was disappointed that she missed. She then threw some more metal shards at him that phased through him. As the metal bar rebounded off the building behind Saitama she stepped back to view the whole battlefield. The metal bar approached the backside of Saitama and right before it hit him a flash of black appeared on the other side of the street before disappearing. Speed-o'-Sound Sonic took a step back in disbelief. _'I-it's not that he's untouchable. I'm just too slow. How can someone be so fast that I can't even see them?'_

Saitama huffed in annoyance _'Honestly, three fights today and none of them are even slightly entertaining. I don't really want to hurt Waitress-san, but she is too fast for me to accurately aim a punch that won't injure her. I guess I'll have to go for one of my wide scale attacks then.'_

Speed-o'-Sonics face scrunched up in confusion as Saitama reared back his fist even though he was on the opposite side of the street.

"Consecutive Air Punch Cannon-Jab Mode" stated Saitama as he slightly drew back his fist and made multiple punches in the frame of a second. Each punch only required him to draw his fist back a few inches and then shoot it forward, but the effect was devastating. The whole area that Speed-o'-Sound Sonic was standing on was instantly flattened with a pressurized blast of air and the surrounding buildings and cars were crushed. She was pressed against the building as the force started to increase and began to slowly lose her vision.

As Saitama began to leave the city a faint voice could be heard nearby a crushed car. "Hello, Tank Top brothers reporting in. We have some info for the Association."


	3. Incineration and ESP

**NOTE: I have changed the place of where some of the monster attacks occur purely for character convenience. It shouldn't change the story too much. I had a semi hard time with the character of genos. He does admit his personality was like Handsome Masks before meeting Saitama, but we are not shown too much of his previous personality in the manga or anime so I had to do a bit of guesswork. I tried to keep each portion in the view of only one person this chapter to make things less confusing. Any tips (or disapprovals) are appreciated.**

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Chapter 3

Incineration and ESP

Hero Association Headquarters:

A man stepped up to the podium in front of the table where the variety of S class heroes were assembled. "I'm sure you are wondering why you are gathered here today," he stated. Most of the members turned to face the man, except for the more dismissive heroes and the few empty seats at the table. "We are here to address the problem of Faceless."

Tatsumaki spoke up. "I don't see what the big problem is. You guys assigned me to defeat that weakling and I'll take care of it"

"Yes…well you see we recently received reports from a B class and C class hero that he demolished a Demon class threat with almost no effort. They claim that the power he displayed is extraordinary," the man replied.

Tatsumaki sulked down in her chair and looked away with a childish face of annoyance. "Hmmph they aren't even close to S class. I doubt they even know what they are talking about. I'll still be able to easily track down this problem and solve it."

The man turned away from Tatsumaki and began to address the rest of the heroes. "Regardless, we have decided to elevate his threat level from low Tiger to high Demon. The reason we have not promoted him to Dragon class yet is the fact that he has yet to actually destroy large portions of a city. We have instructed all classes below A class to not approach him and all A class heroes are to at least approach him in pairs. Furthermore, King also has a statement about Faceless attesting to his threat level."

A man with blond hair and several scars over his eyes looked over the assembled S class heroes as he began to speak. "I was visiting B-ville earlier today when a massive being rose up from the middle of the city. He began demolishing large portions of the city with ease and there appeared to be two men riding on his shoulders. I can only imagine that the monster was a Demon level. He may have been higher, but I didn't have enough time to analyze him before he was defeated. After appearing to crush one man on his shoulder he became enraged and attacked the man on his other shoulder. The giant then pulverized the man into the ground. As the man rose out of the crater unscathed I realized that it was Faceless. He then proceeded to jump several hundred feet in the air before he demolished the monster with one blow. I'm not even sure if I could have done that." King inwardly grimaced 'Heh, of course I actually couldn't have done jack shit. I'm lucky that I keep on catching breaks every time I meet a tough enemy.'

The man at the head of the table addressed the group in front of him. "Anyways, as you can see, this man is obviously much stronger than we initially thought. Although the task of destroying this man is mainly delegated to Tatsumaki if anyone of you crosses paths with this man I would appreciate it if you could deal with the issue at hand. Even with this display of power I am confident that the Top 7 S class heroes can deal with him if it comes down to a one-on-one fight."

The members began to stand up and file out of the room, some with more displeased faces than others. From behind one of the top member's chair emerged a small robotic spider that crawled up into the air vents. In a faraway lab a voice emerged. "Hmm…this man may require further investigation."

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Saitama mopped the same section of the tiled floor for the fourth time today. He had mainly stayed on the floor immediately below the restricted levels for the day. He had been doing this for the past few days since he had a hunch that the Association would be having a meeting about his most recent actions. His guess was right, as he had witnessed the arrival of several high class heroes. Unless they were meeting about a Dragon or God level monster he was likely one of the topics that was being brought up.

Saitama looked up as the elevator dinged. As people began to exit the elevator he made brief eye contact with Tatsumaki before looking down. 'Damn, I could have sworn that I didn't do anything suspicious while they were having their meeting. Why the hell is she looking at me?'

Tatsumaki walked up to him. "Hey Janitor, why the hell do you have blood on your hand? You're supposed to clean stuff, not get it dirtier."

Saitama looked down at his covered fist. "How can you even tell that I have any blood on my fist? I'm wearing gloves."

"Ghhhh you're so oblivious. Just as I would expect from a janitor. Have you even read up on ESP powers? I can connect to various physical surroundings and read them. Granted I can't really probe into objects to obtain info about a person's strength and weaknesses, but I can read what things are made out of to some degree," replied Tatsumaki.

Saitama stared at her with a blank expression on her face.

"Gah, why am I even wasting my time with a lowlife like you", said Tatsumaki. She quickly used her ESP to scan the rest of the outside of Saitama's body and turned around with a slight blush on her face. 'W-what the hell? I can tell just from the outside of his muscles that he is extremely well built. How does a janitor get those kind of muscles.' 'Stupid Janitor,' she thought as she walked towards the exit of the Hero Association building.

Saitama watched Tatsumaki as she exited the building. 'I swear, that girl is the most spoiled brat I've ever met. Even though I'm neutral to most insults she's starting to grind my gears. If only I could do something to put her in her place…..hmmm…I might not be able to do anything, but Faceless can do something,' he thought. He dashed out of the building and began to follow Tatsumaki. 'Screw it, I'll find somewhere to change into my costume on the way there.'

He began jumping from building to building as the green haired ESP'er floated along the streets of the city. He crashed through the window of one building and felt a squishy substance on his foot. Looking down, he saw a plate of steaming spaghetti complete with cheese and meatballs. A man sitting at the table looked up at him before fainting in shock. "Well I guess now's a good time to change into my costume," Saitama said as he pulled out his costume.

After changing, he departed from the man's meal of carbohydrates and dashed out the wall of the other side of the building. The sound of buzzing could be heard and there appeared to be a mosquito like monster near the base of the surrounding buildings. He could see Tatsumaki on top of an adjacent building observing the actions that were unfolding below. A blond haired cyborg was currently facing off against the mosquito monster and was winning handily. It was at this moment that a large group of mosquitoes surrounded their queen like figure and she began a transformation into a more powerful class of monster. Saitama decided he would need to address these issues first so that they would not interfere with him and Tatsumaki.

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Genos stood up and witnessed his enemy beginning her transformation. 'I am lucky that upgraded my arms to the superior V2 arms before this fight. If I didn't have them then my arm may have been ripped off by that insect's last attack. I must defeat this enemy…if I do not then Dr. Stench and the Hero Associations efforts to increase my strength will have been for nothing.' Genos, S-class rank 15, had been inducted into the rank of heroes just a few months ago. He had instantly made the bottom of S class with his scores and several people had expressed that they had high expectations from him. He had missed the S-class meeting that took place earlier today so that he could respond to a Demon-level threat alert in the city.

His new arms ran up to his neck where black extensions surrounded up to his ears and three short spikes jutted onto his cheeks as if they were whiskers. His arms glowed orange with luminescent gases and energy sources. The dials on the back of his arms began to spin with a rapid roaring sound and a blast of ignited gasses was expelled from his shoulder blades as he rocketed towards his airborne enemy.

About halfway there the mosquitoes descended to the ground and a giant eruption rocked the city. A wave of disrupted asphalt traveled along the street as it turned over cars and shredded the infrastructure of the nearby city. Genos floundered about as his vision was cut off. He couldn't use his heat vision to find his enemy, as it was going haywire due to all the surrounding life forms that were currently buzzing around him. That left only one option. "INCINERATE", he shouted. He raised up his arms parallel to his neck and head. A cone of metal and interlaced wire extended out of the sides of his arms from his shoulder blades to his wrists and connected with one another. The sound of building energy could be heard as streaks of lightning and flame began to wreath around the cone. If one were to view the mosquito swarm from a distance it would have disappeared in a blink. An inferno ripped through the swarm and heat blasted upwards into the atmosphere. Smoke and ash began to cloud the air and vision became near impossible.

As the heat died down, Genos was able to act before his opponent thanks to his heat sensors. "Life form detected. Elevation distance change: + 45 meters…48, 12, and 134 degree changes respectively. Calculating best approach route," beeped his sensors. He shot forward and leveled an orange, glowing fist at his opponent. To his surprise a clawed appendage reached up and blocked his fist. An expulsion of energy rocked out of his fist smothering the mosquito like being. The debris cleared from the strike, but the Demon-class monster appeared to only have trivial wounds covering its body.

Before he had time to react he was swatted away by the being's other arm. Genos smashed through several buildings before he managed to skid to a halt by digging his feet into the street. He quickly activated his shoulder blasters and looped around the sides of the buildings back to the battle site. As he approached his enemy to deliver another strike her knee suddenly blurred out of his vision and rocketed him skyward. He broke through the upper layer of smoke and ash and his enemy appeared in front of him only to disappear in a mist cloud of blood and body parts. A blast wave pushed Genos back so that he crashed into the top of one of the closer buildings. 'What the hell? What was that?'

He looked up to see a man with an oddly designed cape land on the opposite side of the building. 'That's the criminal that today's meeting was supposed to be about…..what was his name again? Faceless…I think.' Genos' sensors beeped to notify him of his health, "WARNING: shield levels are at thirty percent. External and internal damage is at a minimum. Shield recharge time: approximately 2 minutes" 'Damn, guess I'll need to make at least some small talk. This guy definitely seems like he's a higher threat than the Association thought'

Faceless glanced over at Genos. "Sup, I sort of have some business I need to take care of so I would appreciate it if you stayed out of it."

Genos looked at the man with a look of disbelief. 'What the hell is with this guy's attitude? He's way to nonchalant about everything.' Genos decided to speak up. "Sorry, but as a member of the Hero Association I can't do that. I will stop you and prove that I am strong enough."

"Okay then. I'll give you the first move. Go right ahead," said the caped man.

"Actually can we wait two minutes until we fight? I need time to charge up to full power," replied Genos.

The caped man showed no reaction as he sat down "Okay." Genos facefaulted, 'This guy has to be one of the weirdest I've ever faced. What kind of person gives his enemy time to charge up?'

Two minutes later:

"Prepare to be eliminated!" shouted Genos as he blasted himself towards Faceless. As he pulled back his mechanical fists he shouted, "MACHINE GUN BLOWS!" Thousands of small pistons in his shoulders and arms rocketed back and forth as steam escaped from openings in his arms. Several slits around his chest began to glow orange and the segments of his shirt that were nearby began to burn off. His fists relentlessly crashed into his opponent over and over again as if they were being fired from a gatling gun. They both crashed into the street as Genos propelled them forward. Geysers of water erupted from the ground as various pipelines became dislodged from their holdings. Genos shot upwards from the hole in the pavement with Faceless propped up on both of his fists.

As they reached the peak of their ascent Genos raised himself above the enemy. He brought his leg up in a straight line and activated the propulsers on his shin as he began to lower his leg. His leg flew downwards in an arc and connected with Faceless sending him careening towards the water on the ground. As Genos and Faceless connected with the pavement the extreme heat from Genos's machinery caused the water to come to a boil, blanketing the battlefield in a layer of steam. 'Lets see him get up from that one,' thought Genos.

A cracking sound could be heard and a black hood emerged out of the pavement. "So, are you going to keep on attacking or will you leave me alone?"

Genos' eyebrows raised and he began to become visibly annoyed. "NO!, I''ll show you what I can truly do. INCINERATE!" He pointed one of his arms forward and six rectangular sheets of metal popped out from around his fists. They began to crackle and energy started to concentrate in his fist. He made several quick steps forward and punched Faceless while he was still in the ground.

Genos looked forward at the end of the massive trench that had just been created in the street and saw his foe picking himself up as if nothing had happened. 'I-I need more power if I need to defeat this enemy. I'll convert my backup energy source to useable energy and flood my circuits with it. That should give me a sizeable boost in speed and strength.' Sparks and heat began to radiate off of Genos as the excess energy began to flood his body. The smell of burning circuitry and melting plastic began to fill his nose. Genos gave of a shudder as his warning systems began to go off. 'I need to make this quick. This energy will not last long and it's harming my body.' Genos approached Faceless and slashed both his arms forward in a semicircular motion. Two massive waves of lighting streaked out from his arms and collided with his opponent in an x shape. The lightning dissipated in an enormous column that raced skywards. Rings of lightning arced out from the column and circled around it. Before Faceless could collide with anything Genos raced to supersonic speeds and blasted behind him. Parts began to shed off of his arms as he shouted "MACHINE GUN STYLE: RAILGUN BLOWS!" His fists collided with the body of Faceless as pistons ripped out the back of his elbows and started firing rapidly. Shockwaves burst out of his fists with every hit and the surrounding windows all exploded in a shower of glass. Faceless flew back as his cape trailed behind him and he slammed to a halt in the side of a building at street level.

Genos grimaced in exhaustion as he landed on the ground. The back of his elbows were melted and the pistons on his arm were fused in place thanks to a decent amount of melted metal that had cooled. He raised both his arms together as they both formed into cannons. The end portions began to whirl rapidly and he fired of a stream of energy. He spun around like a top and impacted the street tearing up what little asphalt was left. 'Wh-what the hell. All my balance systems were accounted for. What caused me to veer off course?' Genos glanced down to his right arm and noticed a distinct lack of an appendage. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Faceless throwing the removed body part onto the ground. He cringed as sparks ran out of the shredded wires near his shoulder. 'I can't let this happen now! I need to become strong and achieve my goals!' Genos reached down and ripped off his right leg, slamming it into the connectors on his remaining arm. Reaching into his chest he pulled out his main reactor core and inserted it into his arm. When he was done with this move he would have just enough energy to remain in suspended animation state. Several clicks could be heard as parts began to shed off of the appendages and they morphed into a massive weapon. Genos looked down at the massive cannon like weapon as it began to accumulate energy in its center. He propped himself against a building and leveled the weapon at Faceless. A massive detonation could be heard and a large circulating beam erupted from the cannon shredding off the end of Genos' arm and leg. The beam fluctuated with massive intensity as it impacted his Demon ranked adversary. Before his systems shut down he was able to witness the destruction of his final attack. Two massive circular divots extended in different direction with everything in their path disintegrated, but in the middle stood Faceless completely unharmed. 'N-no…..I am weak…..I must get stronger.' With that final thought Genos collapsed into the street. He only had one remaining leg and his chest cavity was a blacked husk due to the massive energy overload that had been forced through it a few seconds ago. The back of his head panel had been blown off due to the heat expulsion that was necessary to carry out the maneuver. All of these were non-fatal, but the fact remained that Genos would not be getting up with his own power anytime soon.

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Tatsumaki floated high above the fight having witnessed it all. "Hmmph that kid calls himself S-class. So much for that." She began floating down toward the cloaked man known as Faceless. 'Perhaps he may put up a decent fight. I guess he isn't as weak as most of the other foes that I have faced.' As she touched down she addressed the figure in front of her. "Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but just because you're Demon class doesn't mean you can get in the way of everyone. I've fought quite a few Dragon class before and I've brought them all down"

As the figure turned to glare at her a sudden chill went down her spine. With a shocked look on her face she realized that this was an emotion she had not felt for a long time. The feeling of fear and the feeling that she was in front of a being that somehow outclassed her by a large margin. The space between them seemed to stretch and grow longer and become shrouded in shadows. Tatsumaki quickly shoved off any doubts she had and returned to her normal demeanor.

"Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. It's people like you that ruin what it means to be a hero. I may just do what I do for a hobby, but to others it is a lifestyle, but the most important part is that you never do everything for yourself. Your spoiled attitude is a stain upon the class of heroes and it's time for you to be brought down a peg or two you runt," replied Faceless as he smirked from under his hood.

"RUNT! I'll have you know that I'm probably older than you, you lowlife! I'm twenty eight. I will not take this verbal abuse any longer! You are a criminal and have no right to talk down to me!" Tatsumaki shouted.

"Very well then brat," replied Faceless.

Tatsumaki turned a bright red and her hair and dress slits began to float in the air with a green aura. "THAT DOES IT!" She shot forward with a high propulsion of psychic power and picked up a rock with her ESP. As she neared her enemy she swung the glowing rock around and propelled it at him with mach speeds. It impacted, but appeared to phase through the man and he appeared several feet to the left of where he had been standing before. Tatsumaki became enraged by the dismissive way this man had dodged her attack and began to extend her green aura. She reached out to the slab of Earth's crust that surrounded the man on all sides and dug deep into the Earth with her powers. The Earth in a several mile radius quaked and trembled and with a sudden roar it ripped out of its foundation. Tons and tons of rock and soil folded upward around the man and slabs from multiple directions slammed around him as avalanches of boulders rained downwards. Where Faceless had previously stood was now a mountain the height of several high rise buildings. She let a few deeper breaths loose. It was not a usual occurrence for her to use this much power, and although she had used a significant amount of her power she still had a large portion left that she could use.

"Well I guess the bigshot wasn't so tough after all", she said as she turned away from the mountain. She started to walk away when the ground suddenly lurched. Cracks appeared along the surface of the mountain and it violently shattered. Rocks and boulders blasted through the city ripping out huge sections of the town and the surrounding landscape. It was a good thing that the city had been evacuated earlier due to the mosquito monster or some serious damage would have been caused. At the center of the mountain was a giant crater. A steaming figure walked up the side of the divot and emerged from where the mountain had stood. Tatsumaki had effectively radiated her powers into a shield and had avoided any deadly debris that may have harmed her, but was alarmed to see that her enemy still was alive. She gave out a relatively cute sound of disapproval "Hmpph." "Well I guess I'll have to up the amount of power then." She blasted herself forward and her whole body radiated with green energy. As she neared Faceless she lifted up her leg and concentrated the majority of her power into the limb. It became a solid green as opposed to the translucent green that covered the rest of her body. Right before she reached Faceless a gust of wind blew up her four slits and the bottom of her skirt. The man in front of her froze as her looked upwards and underneath his hood his face turned a shade of pink. She brought her foot down and her distracted enemy was unable to dodge.

Faceless shot through the levels of Earths underground until he found himself in a deep chamber. Magma shot up as he collided with a lake of the substance. As the pressure from the chamber was released to the outside air the magma began to shoot upwards in a column.

On the surface and eruption of soil and lava occurred. Tatusmaki was forced to wheel away from the cracks in the crust and propel herself backwards with a psychic thrust as the miniature volcano expanded outwards. She braced herself in midair as a column of lava shot toward her. Her green aura arranged itself into a wedge shaped structure and the molten rock streamed around her. As she looked forward a human like figure walked out of the pool of lava on the ground. The lava dripped of off the man and his signature cape and cloak were revealed. 'What the hell is this guy made of….does he have some sort of ESP power as well?...'

The man began to walk towards where she was floating and started to pick up speed. Eventually, each step produced seismic waves as his speed approached amazing levels. Seeing the approaching danger, Tatsumaki ripped several buildings out of their foundations and lined them up in front of her to act like a shield. Faceless skidded along the ground and propped both of his legs underneath him. He pushed off against the ground and a massive crater appeared as he began to crash through the buildings one by one. When he had demolished the final obstacle he cocked back his fist into a half punch and thrust forward. Tatsumaki pulled back all of her aura and focused it into a green circle the size of Faceless' fist. As the fist made contact with the shield it appeared as if it would hold for a brief moment, but cracks began to splinter throughout the shield. The shield produced a sound somewhat similar to cracking glass and the fist impacted her in the abdominal area. Although the force from the attack was severely weakened a sharp pain radiated through her body and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. She wiped away a palmful of blood from her mouth and looked at the liquid in amazement. It had been so long since someone had been able to make her bleed to this extent.

The man in front of her began to quiver in some sort of weird form of anticipation. "HAHAHAHA…It has been forever since someone has lasted past my first attack. Ever since I have reached this level of power I have never thrown more than one punch to end a foe. I will congratulate you on that, but based on how damaged you are I doubt you will be the fight that will revive the thrill of fighting for me."

Tatsumaki glanced at her foe with a look of outrage, but at the same time she had to admit that she was outclassed. Even with her full defenses up that last attack had seriously wounded her and it appeared as if her enemy was still holding back greatly. She would have to use one of her attacks that caused higher damage. 'I need time for me to arrange a stronger attack….I'll use a weaker one as a distraction,' she thought. The air began to circle around her as small particles and drops of her blood got caught in her ESP field. What started as a slowly rotating funnel became a shredding gale force twister as it extended towards her enemy. As it engulfed him she could hear him yelling out the name of his next move: "Super Moves: Serious Series-Serious Windmill!" Faceless moved one of his arms in a circle and started to rotate it faster and faster. He angled it so that it was facing the opposite flow direction of the twister and the ESP field started to fluctuate. A massive ripping sound emanated from where Faceless was standing and a blanket of debris covered the battlefield. Where Faceless was previously standing was a giant trench. It was as if someone had taken a giant knife and cleaved through the entire city. Buildings toppled as they were cut in half and a river of lava divided the city in half where his arm spinning had created a force of gale cutting wind.

Tatsumaki was extremely offput at the power of the move, but her next and final move was ready. A shadow covered the city as a meteorite descended from the heavens above. The meteorite punched through the haze above the city with a blaze of glory and shot straight for Faceless. Unfortunately, for her, it never reached him. A colossal slamming sound resonated through the city and the meteorite shattered. Below it stood Faceless with his fist extended.

Tatsumaki smirked as she shouted "METEOR STRIKE: PUNCTURE COMBO" She slammed the destroyed meteor back together and a second meteorite that was positioned right behind the first came in contact with the reformed meteor. The second meteor was one of several ESP crafted ones that Tatsumaki had floating in orbit of Earth. On one end it had a circular bottom, but on the end facing towards the ground it was a sharpened point resulting in a cone shaped meteorite. It was designed so that the entire force of the meteorite would be compacted and released all in one small point. The space rock sliced through the rock that was in contact with Faceless' hand and rammed right into his chest.

Tatsumaki was only somewhat surprised when she saw her enemy get up from the city sized crater with no injuries. Apparently she had caught him somewhat off guard as the front section of his cloak was gone, revealing his toned abs. 'Not too bad' she thought as she peeked a glance at the man's previously concealed muscles. 'If only I could have used THAT move….it isn't ready though, and I don't think that this planet would be able to withstand it though.' Her vision began to grow spots, but before she could fall backwards a hand grasped the small of her back sending shivers down her spine. The man in front of her had his head ducked down and he leaned his mouth next to her ear. "You are weak…are you really the strongest the Association has to offer?" Tatsumaki didn't really know what came over her. She usually treated those that disrespected her with hostility and childish temperament, but this man seemed different. Perhaps it was the fact that out of everyone she had met he was the only one who could back up his words. It was a combination of reasons, but as Faceless backed his face away from her she closed her eyes and leaned forward, locking her lips with his. At first his lips remained locked and relentless, but after a few second he slightly opened his mouth and returned the favor. She slightly extended her tongue and it danced back and forth with his in a circular pattern. As quickly as the kiss had started it ended. Faceless pulled away delicately biting her bottom lip as her did so. She let out a breath of hot air and Faceless coughed before speaking up. "Later brat," he said before dropping her into the dirt of the city. Before she passed out Tatsumaki's face grew red with embarrassment and anger. "Hmpph," she grunted as she passed out onto the battleground.

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One week later:

The mountain range shuddered as multiple mountains were flattened. After her release from the Association hospital Tatsumaki had decided to travel to a secluded part of the world. She had awoken in the destruction of the city and escorted Genos back to the Association before collapsing. She had simply told them that she and Genos had fought a multitude of Dragon level monsters. She was not too keen on admitting that she had lost to a single man.

The fact remained that she had never actually trained seriously before. As a prodigy she always took her power for granted and was praised by those around her. Needless to say, she was now determined to change that. That man, Faceless, both interested her and infuriated her at the same time. She realized she could neither get his attention nor defeat him in her current state. It was time for her to grow her ESP in power and in creativity. It was also time for her to finish the move she had been working on for the last few years.

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Genos lay in the bed frustrated at his own inability to get his job done. He was supposed to destroy those that were weak and in his way and he couldn't do it. A man made out of flesh and blood had defeated his top grade machinery and power of robotics. He slouched up his bed and activated his communication systems. "Hello, ." A brief murmur could be heard from the other side of the communication system. "Yes I think I will take those bio-grade machinery cells that you were talking about."

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Saitama sat back in his chair, finished with his Saturday shopping. He hoped that his words had had some sort of influence on Tatsumaki. He was honestly shocked when she was able to block his half pulled punch. He was more shocked though, when she had kissed him. He had no idea when or how she had become interested in him. He chuckled at the fact that his counterpart identity was treated so much worse by Tatsumaki. 'I will admit that I wouldn't be completely opposed to a relationship with her. I would like her to be stronger though," he mused. He could sense potential in her. During his fight he had sensed remnants of power that felt somewhat similar to him. They were faint though and he doubted that she could even sense that type of power that resided in her. She was a far ways away from where he stood. 'Regardless, I will still enjoy messing with her in the fights to come,' he thought as he put his dishes into the sink


End file.
